


sweet as whole

by larkin_addlion



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Austin Texas, Co-workers, Eventual Fluff, Except none of them play soccer, F/F, Light Angst, PREATH - Freeform, Pining, Slow Burn, US Women's National Soccer Team - Freeform, krashlyn - Freeform, so'hara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-02 04:37:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21155729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larkin_addlion/pseuds/larkin_addlion
Summary: She’s sure that Abby was saying words to her about what was wrong with her computer and how she would fix it, but none of the words registered as soon as her eyes caught onto this dark, curly-haired beauty as she walked, no, glided, over to the staircase door.And then she just showed up at the community meeting yesterday. Christen. That was her name. And for some reason Tobin had just turned off around her. All of that practice at bars picking up completely meaningless girls, and the one time the girl wasn’t completely meaningless, Tobin had completely stopped functioning.(Author's note: This is from a chapter down the road, so sorry you might have to wait a moment to get the Preath action but I promise it's coming)





	1. monday

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to write this for kind of a long time, and have been writing it for a while so that I could post for the first time with a decent amount of content. I'm hoping that by putting out a lot now, it will be more okay when I inevitably don't update consistently hehe but I will really try my best to keep getting content up. Today seemed like a very light content day, so I finally decided it was the right time to put this out there. Hopefully y'all like it, and if you don't, honestly don't tell me-- I don't take rejection well ;).
> 
> Title is based off the song "Sweet as Whole" by Sara Bareilles, but if you know the song, this work really doesn't have anything to do with what that song is about, the title just worked for reasons you, dear reader, will soon understand.

September in Austin, Texas is almost like an extension of August, still just as hot and dry with still air and bright sunbeams that make you sweat from just standing outside for more than 2 minutes. The mornings and evenings allow one to fare slightly better, at least the sun isn’t shining down so intensely and directly. So Christen has taken to running at almost ungodly hours in the morning with her two dogs and her best friend Meghan, although everyone calls her Kling because of her last name, just so she can escape the inevitable heat.

This is how Christen finds herself tying her running shoes and grabbing the two leashes from the hook mounted by the door, calling out for Morena and Khaleesi to follow, and locking her apartment door at 6:15 am.

Her Bouldin Creek apartment is just a short walk up to the Town Lake trail, and she finds it quite pleasant because at this hour, even First Street is relatively void of traffic. She loves the time she gets to spend with her dogs in the morning as they walk the few blocks up to the lake; they calm her while simultaneously making her feel this inexplicable sense of joy. Nothing in the world can make her feel quite like her dogs do.

Although her best friend comes close, and as Christen nears the parking lot that serves as an entrance to the trail, she sees the short brunette leaning against her light blue Subaru eating her breakfast granola bar. They greet each other like they do every morning, with a quick hug, and then Christen hands Khaleesi’s leash off to Kling and the two women take off on their jog, each with a dog prancing along obediently at their side.

Christen and Kling often jog in silence because it can be difficult to keep up a conversation with the whole physical exertion thing happening as well, but sometimes topics pop up that they bounce between each other whenever they find the breath to do so. Today, Christen asks about the date she knows Kling went on last night, her third or fourth date with this same girl, and Kling offers up a brief description, saying it was good and that they have plans to meet each other again. Christen wants more details, but she knows now might not be the best time to try to pry them out of her friend, so as they near they end of their circular running route, putting them right back in the parking lot they started in, she tells Kling to come over tonight for dinner and a movie and more details about this date. Kling laughs and agrees as she hands Khaleesi’s leash back to Christen, then gets in her car and waves through the window as she pulls out of the lot.

Christen returns home around 7:30 and jumps in the shower, then hurriedly starts her morning routine for work, dabbing on some foundation and coating her lashes in mascara before pulling together an outfit that she determines to be just the right amount of feminine and just the right amount of badass. After a yogurt and a banana suffice as breakfast, she kisses the dogs goodbye and hops into her car, stopping at Epoch to grab her usual coffee before heading into work.

Christen loves her job. She loves people, and interacting with people and helping them succeed. Her work as a Human Resources Manager has been so fulfilling for her, and it’s made even better by the company she gets to work for, Whole Foods. Their headquarters in Austin have the same feel as the city itself, relaxed but still bustling, creative but still professional. And today she loves that she gets to see the fruits of her labor, a new hire coming in that Christen recruited herself from her Alma Mater, Stanford. She had to fight for this employee, convincing her to move down to Texas when she had plenty of job offers in California, but she did it, and their IT department was going to be so much better because of it.

After getting her own stuff settled in her office, she takes the stairs down to the third floor to greet her new employee, Tierna, and get her situated at her desk and with her new boss. She spends the first couple hours of the day working with Tierna to get her paperwork finished and filed and make sure she’s acquainted with her co-workers and her boss, Adrianna.

The rest of Christen’s morning is spent looking over the quarterly performance evaluations that have started trickling in from the department heads and scrolling through LinkedIn to find new job candidates to reach out to.

Lunch comes soon enough, and Kelley pops by Christen’s desk to let her know it’s time to go. The two women meet up with Alex and Ali outside Whole Foods on the patio and walk across the street to Snap Kitchen. It wouldn’t usually be Christen’s first choice of a lunch spot, but Alex, being the Health Foods Coordinator for Whole Foods, only allows the group to go to certain places for health reasons.

As the group eats, the topic of conversation turns to Ali’s bachelorette party and her upcoming wedding. Ali met her fiancee Ashlyn at work, Ashlyn working in the digital marketing department.

“Al have you thought anymore about what you wanna do for a bachelorette party?” Kelley prods.

Ali laughs because of course it would be Kelley who asks this, as she is perpetually down for a good time. “No Kell, and honestly I don’t really care that much, as long as I get to spend it with you guys.” She pauses a moment as Kelley nods, knowing what Kelley wants to ask and letting her stew in anticipation, just for a little bit. “And yes, if you would like to take up the responsibility of planning it Kell, you can.”

“Yes!” Kelley jumps up from her chair and pumps her fist, completely oblivious to Alex’s eye roll coming from the seat next to her.

“Ali, I love you but that’s a terrible idea!” Alex spouts, “she can’t plan you bachelorette party by herself we would probably end up at a college frat party!” Christen giggles at Alex’s words and nods a little, as they certainly hold some truth.

“Fine then, you can help Lex but seriously I don’t care all that much I just really want to spend time with my friends.”

“Chris you should help too. You’re good at organizing things and communicating details with people,” Alex offers.

“Yeah seriously,” Kelley finally sits back down in her chair and directs her attention toward Christen, “please don’t make me plan this whole thing just with Janice.” Kelley jerks her head toward Alex, and Alex scoffs a little and rolls her eyes again.

“Oh please Worms you would love spending all that extra time with me,” she retorts sarcastically before continuing, “no but seriously Chris you should plan it with us.”

Christen almost declines, thinking about how much extra time this would take and how she would rather spend that time at home with her dogs, but she sees the way both Alex and Kelley are looking at her expectantly and she nods, “yeah, okay, that would be fun, let’s do it!”

“Great now that that’s all settled, I have some very important questions about something I saw on your Instagram story this weekend Kell,” Ali raises her eyebrows at the freckly girl across the table from her. “Are you and that girl finally dating? Cooking a meal at your apartment together feels very domestic.”

Kelley puts up a little bit of a fight, but eventually confirms that yes she asked the girl to be her girlfriend, and then the conversation drifts naturally to relationships past and present, and lunch is almost over and Christen really thinks she has gotten away with having this whole conversation without anyone pointing out the painfully obvious but then…

“Chris how long ago was it since you were dating Matt? Like a couple years?” Kelley prods playfully.

“Umm… well..” Christen starts.

“Yeah hasn’t it been a while since you’ve been seeing anyone?” Alex continues where Kelley left off, “have you had any dates that we don’t know about?”

“I mean… I… uh…” Christen tries again.

“As a fellow bisexual I truly find it hard to believe that you haven’t been able to find anyone with literally double the size of the dating pool,” Kelley quips.

“Oh my God guys take it easy on her will you?” Ali comes to her rescue, or so Chris thinks before… “Ok but seriously hun, have you seen anyone, boy or girl, since you and Matt broke up?”

“Well… no not really…but can we really quick back-track to that whole ‘double the size of the dating pool thing” because I really don’t think statistically that…”

“Yeah yeah okay Chris that’s not really what matters here,” Kelley interrupts, “what does matter is that…”

“WE’RE GONNA HELP YOU GET A DATE,” Alex finishes.

_Man, they really are too alike for their own good._

***

The rest of the afternoon at work passes rather uneventfully for Christen, mostly paperwork and contracts and resumes and performance evals. The one spike in action comes around 3:30 when Megan pokes her head into Christen’s workstation. Megan is not someone Christen usually interacts with but she knows who she is of course, she’s the executive leader of the PR and marketing team that works just one floor up. Christen has brought new employees up to her office before, received her performance evals just this morning actually, and certainly gets the weekly email that Megan sends out every Wednesday to update all employees on any new social media campaigns, but Christen has never worked directly with her. Which is why she is a little surprised when she sees the distinctive pink hair come into view above her workstation privacy panels, but nevertheless, Christen greets her warmly.

“Christen, hi,” Megan greets back, “would you be able to stop by our Media and Marketing Community meeting tomorrow? Usually Becky sits in on them as the HR representative to see what my team is doing and what kind of employees would work well with our dynamic, but Becky’s out of town this week so Dawn thought you might be able to join us instead. ”

“What time is the meeting tomorrow?”

“We’re supposed to meet at 9:30, but most of my team is the artsy, spacey type so we usually don’t actually start until like 9:45.”

Christen pulls up her calendar on her computer for a quick check before bringing her focus back to Megan. “Yeah, sure! I can be there.”

“Great,” comes the pink-haired woman’s response, “we’ll be in the South Congress room upstairs. Coffee and some breakfast will be provided! Thanks, Christen.”

“Yeah of course!” she smiles warmly, “anything I can do to help!”

***

Christen walks out of her Ashtanga yoga class feeling sweaty, but very relaxed, and heads back over the couple of blocks to the Whole Foods parking garage to pick up her car. She prefers to walk to yoga after work since it’s so close and parking at work is free, unlike street parking would be, and that is if she even finds any. She tucks her mat under her left arm, pulling out her phone from her bag to call Kling.

“Hey Chris, you out of yoga?” she picks up after a couple rings.

“Yeah, I’m almost back to the garage now. See you in 20 at my place?”

“Sounds good C. I’ll bring the beer!”

“Kling I hate beer if you bring beer I will literally kick you out of my apartment.”

“Bye see you in 20 with beer in hand love you!” Kling hurriedly gets out before ending the call.

Christen laughs a little to herself as she unlocks her car, shaking her head with a little smirk on her face knowing full well that her best friend will show up with both beer and wine to make them both happy.

And when in fact Chris opens the door to see the short brunette with a bottle of white wine in one hand and a half-full six pack of beer in the other, coming inside to help make dinner and talk about their days at work and Kling’s date this past weekend and then finally crashing on the couch with their home-made quinoa and vegetable medley to watch a couple of the new episodes of Stranger Things with the dogs curled up with them on the couch, she is so sure that this is all she needs right now. She thinks back to the discussion at lunch, and nods resolutely to herself, making a pact in her head.

_See Chris? You don’t need a romantic partner to make you happy. All you need is this right here, and don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise._


	2. monday (again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get two at once because I think these two chapters go hand in hand as they describe the same day from different perspectives! I have a good amount of the next few chapters written so they should be up in a timely manner.

_Thwack!_

“Tobin!” Lauren yells at her best friend and roommate, lifting the pillow above her head ready to strike the sleeping figure in front of her again. _Thwack! _“Get the fuck out of bed…” _Thwack! _ “and turn ofF YOUR GODDAMN ALARM!” _THWACK!_

“—what…?” comes the groggy reply from the brunette as her eyes flutter open, blinking in the blinding light as the hangover sets in.

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

“Your fucking alarm is going off for like the tenth time in the last half hour and you have to leave for work in ten minutes,” Lauren says exasperatedly, tossing the pillow back onto the bed. Tobin moves her hands up to her face, trying to block the light that is physically hurting her eyes so she can better focus on the words her roommate is saying, barely having registered any of the previous ones. “There’s both a cup of coffee and a bottle of gatorade on the counter, please drink them, and also brush your hair _please_, before you leave for work. I have to get going.”

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

Lauren’s almost out the door of the apartment as she yells, “and for the love of GOD turn your alarm OFF!”

Tobin finally finds the ability to move her hands from where they are stationed covering her eyes and grabs for her phone on the bedside table, shutting off the alarm. She gets out of bed slowly, being very careful to not make any sudden movements that might send her head reeling with dizziness, and pads into the kitchen for that coffee and gatorade that Lauren had promised. Tobin was so thankful to have a friend like Lauren in her life, someone who put up with her endless antics and helped her through anything that got her in a little bit of trouble. Sometimes Tobin thought Lauren was maybe too good to be Tobin’s friend, but Tobin tried her best to always be there whenever Lauren needed someone to listen to her rant about her days at work or someone to cheer her up and make her laugh.

Her brain is still in a bit of a fog as she sips on her coffee until her eyes land on the red blinking numbers on the oven clock: _8:39…8:39…8:39_. 

“Shit!” Tobin exclaims, already running back into her room to change into something she can wear to work, which she is supposed to be leaving for in exactly one minute. She pulls on the first things she can find, the black striped pants that she wore to brunch yesterday with Allie and the white button up that was on the very top of the dirty clothes pile. It’s a little wrinkled, but it will have to do. Remembering what Lauren said before she left, Tobin hurries to the bathroom and drags a brush through her hair, swishes a bit of mouthwash around as a substitute for brushing her teeth, and then splashes some cold water on her face to try to wake herself up a little more. 

Slipping her go-to pair of Oxfords on her feet, she grabs her keys, wallet, and the much needed Gatorade, downs the rest of her coffee, and rushes out the door at 8:46. 

Her drive to work is not far, she really only has a few blocks to go through downtown, but today, as she’s on a time crunch, she seems to hit every red light and get stuck behind every car that’s driving overly cautiously down the bustling streets. She anxiously bounces her left heel as she waits for the last light to change to green before speeding towards the entrance to the Whole Foods parking garage on the next block up. She parks her car at 8:58 and rushes towards the elevator. 

She arrives on the fifth floor just in time to see all of her co-workers gathering in the South Congress room for their Monday morning weekly kick-off meeting. Tobin joins her media team at the large conference table and Megan, her boss, begins by addressing the new media ad campaign for the Whole Foods 365 stores that’s set to release this coming week. 

“Dude, are those the pants you wore yesterday to brunch?” Allie leans over from the chair next to her and whispers in Tobin’s ear. Tobin rolls her eyes and shrugs, responding in a hushed tone, “yeah maybe, and what about it?”

Allie scrunches her nose at her friend as if to express her disgust with this outfit repeat and then shakes her head, starting to get a more clear idea of what might be going on. “Did you have a good time last night?”

Tobin breathes out heavily, turning to face Allie in her chair, “Harry will you…”

“Tobin! Allie! Is there something you want to share with the group?” Megan’s voice cuts through the rest of Tobin’s sentence, and a smattering of giggles echoes through the room. 

“Nope,” comes the unison reply from the two women. 

“Great. So now we’ll move on to Ashlyn’s presentation and maybe you’ll pay more attention to that.” 

Tobin slumps down in her chair a little bit, embarrassed by the call-out in front of all the other team members, but Allie seems fine, even raising her hand to ask a question about some of the marketing statistics Ashlyn is talking about.

When the meeting is finally over, Allie continues her interrogation of her best friend as they file out of the conference room and back to their desks. 

“So exactly how drunk did you get last night and exactly how hungover were you this morning?”

“Very, and very. Now can we stop talking about this at work and wait until later to discuss the details?”

“Harry, you’re a mess,” Allie says affectionately, wrapping her arm around Tobin’s shoulders. “But fine. We can talk about it later. We have to go talk to Lindsey about those campaign strategies now anyways.”

Tobin, Allie, and Lindsey are currently working on an ad campaign that incorporates the outdoor murals and graffiti across Austin to promote a local culture and healthy living. Tobin had gone out to take a bunch of pictures with Lindsey last week, and inspiration struck Allie Friday afternoon as they looked through the photos, finally giving them their campaign slogan: Go Artdoors! Now came the exciting part, getting to put together the pieces they had gathered so far and create media in all different mediums to release to the public. Getting to see the final product was Tobin’s favorite part, and the reason she loved her job as much as she did. 

The team spends the morning at the large collaboration table in the middle of the fifth floor, their favorite photos spread out in front of them as they pair up compatible photos, start to create effective layouts, and get rid of the photos that don’t fit with the story that want to tell. They’re so lost in their work that Tobin doesn’t even realize how much time has passed until Ashlyn comes over to the table to invite them to lunch, which Lindsey declines, citing that she brought food from home, but Allie and Tobin accept.

They decide on Hut’s Hamburgers for lunch, just a short block away from the office, and after ordering their food and sitting down at a table, Allie continues her interrogation that was shut down earlier.

“Now that we’re out of the office you have no more excuses Harry. You’re telling me what happened last night. How late were you out?”

Tobin sighed and obliged Allie with the answers she wanted. “Like 2am. Maybe. I honestly don’t really remember anything past 1:30ish when I got rejected after asking a girl to go home with me, which only made me drink more. But I guess I got home safely at some point, as I woke up in my bed this morning. Rather late and only because Lauren was hitting me with a pillow, but I did wake up in my own bed.”

“Wow, Tobin you got rejected?” Ashlyn’s eyes open wide in astonishment. “Damn, are you losing your game T?”

“No…”

“Harry never had game to begin with she’s just ridiculously hot and kinda funny so girls just like throw themselves at her, especially when they’re drunk. I’ve seen it, it’s kind of disgusting actually.” Ashlyn bursts out laughing from Allie’s assessment, but needless to say, Tobin does not find it anywhere near as hilarious.

“Ha ha yeah very funny Har. I’ve got game! That girl last night just didn’t want to be in a strange place when she woke up for work this morning. I got her number though.”

“God, I’m so glad I’m off the market,” Ashlyn sighs.

Allie echoes that sentiment, “me too. Honestly I don’t blame you going out all the time, if I were still single, that’s probably what I would be doing.

“Gee thanks for reminding me I had almost forgotten about how single I was until you just brought it up,” Tobin retorts sarcastically.

Their burgers come, and Tobin busies herself by stuffing her mouth with food so she doesn’t have to talk about how she doesn’t have a girlfriend. It’s not that she doesn’t want a girlfriend, she just doesn’t really know how to do it. She’s much better at the one night, no strings attached type thing. The few relationships she’s had before haven’t lasted very long, because once feelings get involved, Tobin gets bored. The thrill of the chase is really what she loves; the thought of staying with one person for forever scares the living daylights out of her. Plus, she’s not good at making decisions or at sticking to plans, which has annoyed all of her exes to no end.

“Tobin, what do you think?”

Tobin doesn’t even realized that she’s spaced out until the sound of Allie’s voice saying her name pulls her back down to earth.

“Hm?” Tobin questions, having completely missed everything that had been said prior to her name. “What do I think about what?”

“What should we do for Ash’s bachelorette party?” 

“Oh um, I don’t know. Are there like options I can choose from? Don’t put me on the spot.” Tobin can see from the look in Allie’s eyes that that wasn’t exactly the response she was hoping for, so she continues. “If you want an idea other than ‘go out to the bars’, you’re going to have to give me options and/or the time to do proper research.”

“Yeah okay Har. Take this as a warning and start doing your research, so next time I ask the question you’ll actually have an answer for me.”

“Well as much as I love planning my own bachelorette party, I think we gotta head back to work girls,” Ashlyn says, glancing down at her watch.

Once they’re back at work, Megan comes out from her office to remind everyone that the community update meeting is tomorrow, and all active project teams must present on their progress and their goals for the future of the project. 

“Please make sure you have your presentations ready to go by 9:30 tomorrow morning, and make them good, because as you know, representatives from many departments will be coming to see them,” Megan wraps up her directions with a finalizing head nod and retreats back onto her office. 

So Tobin spends her afternoon working with Lindsey and Allie to put together some visuals to present tomorrow, and also checks in with Mal, who she has been working with on a careers campaign for recruiting recent college graduates to update the presentation from last month to include all the new developments that have been made.

Around 5:04, Tobin and her teams decide they are happy with their presentations, and head out of the office, Allie warning Tobin to “not get too rowdy tonight!” as they step off the elevator and go their separate ways towards their cars.

***

Four hours later, Tobin has showered and eaten some takeout with Lauren, both vital things for her to do before going out. She doesn’t actually need to spend very long choosing an outfit, as she has basically three uniforms that she rotates between, but she does anyways, staring at her closet for a while, then pulling out some more daring pieces that she knows she’ll probably never actually wear, before deciding to go with her ripped black jeans, a black v-neck t shirt, a maroon snapback, and her Vans. The exact same outfit she wore last Wednesday night.

Not long after she has decided on her outfit, the front door opens and Danny yells, “Honey I’m home!!!”

Tobin can’t remember a time when she didn’t know Danny. He has been her best friend since she was 7 years old and they were both growing up in New Jersey and were shipped off to tennis camp together. They went to tennis camp every year for 10 years, getting closer and closer every year. Senior year of high school they even tried dating, but this only lasted about two months, one of the major problems being that Danny was realizing he might be gay. It took Tobin actually being broken up with by Danny for her to realize that she had never actually been attracted to him, he just happened to be so present in her life that it seemed almost inevitable for them to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Turns out she’s gay too, so now they’re each other’s wingmen at Cheer Up Charlie’s every night and just as close as ever.

“Danny Boy! 24 hours is too long.”

“Toby! How bad was it this morning? You were wrecked last night dude.”

“Ughh don’t remind me. This morning was bad. I almost didn’t make it to work but LAUREN IS MY SAVIOR AND WOKE ME UP BEFORE SHE LEFT.” She yells that last part for Lauren’s benefit, so she can hear it from her bedroom.

“You’re welcome!” Comes the muffled voice back through the closed bedroom door on the other side of the living room. 

Danny laughs before changing the subject, “T you got any food? I haven’t eaten yet.”

“Oh I see how it is. You just come here to use me for my food. Yeah I got food help yourself to anything in the fridge that doesn’t have Lauren’s name on it.”

Danny opens the refrigerator and peeks inside. “Ok but what if I want that hummus that’s on the top shelf?”

“Lauren would murder you.”

“YOU BET I WOULD!” the voice behind the door yells.

***

The night at the bar is the same as every night at the bar. Tobin flirts with girls and Danny hypes her up. Danny flirts with guys and Tobin hypes him up. They both take someone home, and like always, Tobin ends the night feeling mostly unsatisfied by the meaningless sex she just had, as she tries to fall asleep next to the blonde stranger (her name might be Katherine?) that’s snoring on the other side of her bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me and my best friend (the editor of this fic) on Insta @wo_so_obsessed. Let me know what you think!


	3. tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one where they talk to each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> christen's perspective

Christen arrives to work on Tuesday 15 minutes early like always, and with a cup of Epoch iced coffee in hand. She sets her bag down at her desk and takes the Tupperware of leftovers from dinner with Kling last night to the office fridge. She decides to take a quick trip down one floor to find Tierna and make sure she is settling in okay to her new job and that she doesn’t have any questions or concerns after her first full day of work. They chat for a while, and Tierna assures Christen that she will ask if she has any questions, but so far she’s settling in all right. 

Christen glances down at her watch, noticing that it’s almost time for the Media Community Meeting that Megan asked her to attend, and then apologizes to Tierna for cutting their conversation short. She walks up the two flights of stairs to the fifth floor and finds her way through the maze of desks and collaboration tables, all cluttered with printed photos and marked-up layouts, to the South Congress meeting room. 

Only Megan and a woman that Christen recognizes as Ali’s fiancée, Ashlyn, were in the room fiddling with a computer that was hooked up to a large TV when she arrived, and Megan waved her waved her over, greeting her happily.

“Hey Christen! Welcome, come on in. We’re working on getting started, but like I said yesterday people in this department aren’t great about being on time. Have you met Ashlyn?”

“Yeah, I have! A couple times through Ali. It’s good to see you again Ash.”

“Hey Christen! Nice to see you again too.” The two women shake hands in a sign of friendly recognition as a couple more people start to filter into the room and take their spots in the large conference room.

“Feel free to sit anywhere you want Christen,” Megan directed, vaguely gesturing around to the empty chairs in the room.

Christen opts to sit in one of the chairs lining the edge of the edge of the room, next to recent arrival Alyssa, who she recognizes from the accounting department as she’s worked with her before on employee payroll details. 

“Have you been to these meetings before?” Christen leans over to ask.

“Yeah I’m usually the representative from accounting,” Alyssa responds, “I take it this is your first one?”

Christen nods hesitantly, and Alyssa senses her discomfort in the new setting and reassures her. “These are really chill meetings. You just sit here and listen, and usually the marketing campaigns they present on are really interesting. I really enjoy coming to these meetings. Plus they provide food.” Alyssa’s head jerks a little toward the door as a short train of people comes into the room carrying coffee dispensers and trays of fruit, yogurt, and bagels. 

After the spread is set up at the back of the room, Alyssa gets up to grab some coffee and Christen decides to follow her, knowing that she doesn’t need any more caffeine after her stop at Epoch, but that some fruit and yogurt sound pretty good right now. She waits a step out from the table as a blonde searches the yogurt selection for her favorite flavors and then turns away from the table with two containers of yogurt in each hand, not before the short, dark-haired girl behind her remarks, “Linds, save some for the rest of us!” and the blonde quips back, “sorry Mal, gotta stock up for the rest of the day!”

Christen chuckles to herself a little, finding the implication that ‘Linds’ (she assumes her name is Lindsey?) would eat all four of those yogurts within the day, and steps closer to the table so she can grab her own yogurt, a banana, and a spoon.

Turning away from the table, she suddenly finds herself colliding with another woman, a brunette whose slightly wavy hair is all pulled over to the right side of her neck and angular features that are in direct contrast with soft brown eyes.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Christen apologizes, lifting her focus up from the food in her hands to the eyes that are staring at her in an intense way that almost makes her a little uncomfortable. 

“It’s okay,” the woman replies in a soft voice, maintaining eye contact with Christen for just a second longer before stepping around her to pour herself a cup of coffee. Christen returns to her seat a little shaken by the incident but not really sure why. 

The room is starting to fill up now, people coming in and stopping by the food table before organizing themselves into the open seats in the room, the marketing team preferring to sit at the table and the department representatives sitting in the chairs on the perimeter of the room.

A hush falls over the room as Megan stands at the front and raises her hands, then takes advantage of the silence to welcome everyone to the September community meeting for the Marketing Department, and that these meetings were set up as a way to keep everyone updated on any new programs Whole Foods is rolling out, as well as where the Whole Foods brand is heading and how the company is developing, both locally and internationally. And without further ado, the presentations start.

First, Ashlyn talks about her newest media research project, a case study on market demographics and how they vary from ad campaign to ad campaign, presenting graphs and statistics on the TV screen. Next, the women who Christen assumes are named Lindsey and Mallory based on the exchange at the food table, present on their progress for a video series highlighting the origins of Whole Food’s fair trade products and practices, which Christen finds very interesting and even learns a few things about the topic that she hadn’t known before. Then, a very tall woman with wavy hair that is almost strawberry-blonde stands up and introduces herself as Sam before starting her presentation about the strategies Whole Foods is currently trying out to broaden the reach of their marketing, such as advertising on YouTube and Instagram.

The next presentation is the one Christen finds the most interesting. A lanky blonde girl who introduces herself as Allie talks at the front of the room with her team,with Lindsey and the mysterious brunette Christen awkwardly ran into earlier standing behind her and nodding along to the presentation. She talks about their “Go Artdoors!” campaign (_a very clever slogan_, Christen thinks) and how they’re creating a connection between Austin art and healthy living, and hope to start commissioning local artists to create works for the flagship Austin store within the next year. 

After a few more presentations—one by Mallory and the mystery brunette, who Christen finally learns is named Tobin after Mallory introduces her before starting their presentation, one by Sam and Mallory, and a final one by Ashlyn and Allie, the meeting wraps up. Christen gets up from her seat and notes to Alyssa how nice it was to see her again before making her way over to Allie and tapping her lightly on the arm.

“Hi, Allie? I’m Christen, here taking over for Becky from HR. I just wanted to say that I was really impressed with your presentation for that campaign about the arts and culture of Austin. I think it looks like a really cool ad campaign, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.” Christen’s joyful smile quickly takes over her face as she finishes her compliment.

“Wow thanks, Christen right?” Allie raises her eyebrows in question making sure she remembered the name right, and when Christen nods she continues, “but I really can’t take all of the credit for it. My team is amazing.” Allie scans the room until she finds the people she’s looking for and then calls out, “Linds! Har! Come here!” (_Wait I thought her name was Tobin? What would Har even be short for? _Christen muses internally)

When the two women reach Allie’s side she introduces them to Christen. “Lindsey, Harry, this is Christen from HR. Christen, this is Lindsey and Ha—uh, Tobin. I’m the only one allowed to call her Harry.” As Allie gestures over to the woman on her left, Christen suddenly becomes acutely aware of the brown eyes that seem to be boring a hole directly into her soul. She shifts her weight a little uncomfortably, wondering if Tobin is always this silent and, well, _stare-y_ or if there’s something about this situation that makes her uncomfortable. Whatever “this situation” happens to be. (_Maybe she’s just really bad at meeting new people?_)

Christen shifts her weight a little awkwardly, pulling her focus away from Tobin and over to Lindsey and Allie, whose gazes feel a little more welcoming. “I was just telling Allie that I was really impressed with the work y’all are doing on your campaign. I’m excited to see it finished, as well as all of the art that comes out of it!”

“Thanks so much!” Lindsey replies cheerily, while Tobin sheepishly agrees, “yeah, thanks.”

“Well, I’ve got to get back downstairs, but I really hope I get to come to another one of these meetings in the future. Maybe I’ll see if Becky and I can take turns going or something. I really enjoyed hearing everything y’all are working on.”

“Yeah we’d love for you to come again,” says Allie, “it was so nice to meet you Christen!”

Christen smiles and chances a glance at Tobin one more time before heading out, but she is still met with wide, uncomfortable eyes and a stoic expression, so she waves mostly at Lindsey and Allie and walks out of the South Congress room.

***

The rest of the morning passes quickly for Christen, and soon she is outside on the Whole Foods patio with Ali eating their lunches. 

“I got to see your wonderful fiancée this morning. I went to the community meeting this morning for Becky.”

“Oh? And how is she doing?” Before Christen can answer, Ali cuts her off and continues, “I promise I told her not to wear those pants today because they weren’t professional enough for a business presentation so if that’s what you’re going to say, then please don’t.”

Christen laughs. “No I was actually going to say that I really enjoyed her presentations. I didn’t even notice the pants probably because I was just so interested in what was being said. Will you tell Ash how much I enjoyed the meeting? I didn’t get to talk to her afterwards.”

Just then Ali’s face lights up a little bit and Christen wonders if her complimenting Ash really had that much of an effect on her until… “Why don’t you just tell her yourself?” Ali’s eyes are trained on the patio door that Ash just came out of with Megan.

When Ash spots her fiancée, her face softens into a smile and she makes her way over to the table with Megan following closely behind. 

“Hey, babe,” Ashlyn greets.

“Hey, we were just talking about you,” Ali smiles lovingly.

“Oh yeah? All good things I hope.”

Christen cuts in, “Oh yeah! I was telling Ali how well I thought your presentations went this morning. I was very impressed!”

“Wow thanks Christen. That means a lot,” comes Ash’s response.

“Yeah and thanks for coming. We hope you can maybe come to more in the future,” Megan says and then continues, “Hey would you want to come up to my office some time this afternoon and give some feedback on all the presentations? I would love to have an outside opinion on some things going on in the department.”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” answers Christen, “I’m not sure how I’ll be able to help out but I can come up around 3 if that works for you?”

“3 it is. See you then, Christen.”

***

When 3 o’clock rolled around, Christen was ready for the break from her tedious sorting of resumés, taking the stairs up one floor and finding Megan’s office along the perimeter of the bustling workstations. She lightly raps on the door before entering, making sure her presence is known and welcomed by the pink haired woman. 

The office is very much how you would expect it to be when its inhabitant is Megan Rapinoe. Any award that she or her department has won within the company is displayed on a tall bookshelf behind her desk, but the wall surrounding it is filled with hanging frames filled by newspaper clippings about Austin at the middle of social movements, colorful printed card stock with empowering quotes by women, and magazine interviews with politically influential power houses. It’s a well-balanced mix of pride in her own achievements and pride in the achievements of others.

“Christen, come on in,” Megan says invitingly.

Christen takes a seat in the cushiony leather chair across the desk from Megan and delicately crosses her right ankle over her left. She’s honestly not really sure why she’s here, or how she can end up helping Megan with her team, so she finds herself expectantly looking at the woman across the desk from her, hoping she will start the conversation with some questions that would help Christen give her the information that would be most helpful. 

Luckily, Megan gets the hint. “What would you say are some of the strengths you noticed within the team and their presentations this morning?”

Christen launches into her complimentary speech for what seems like the hundredth time that day, talking about the creativity behind the campaigns, the professionalism of the presentations, and the personability of all her team members, although she has to stop herself from correcting that statement to “almost all of her team members”, as a certain interaction with a very awkwardly silent brunette comes to mind. 

“And what do you see as the weaknesses within the team?”

Christen has to take a moment to think about this one, before she settles on the lack of visual connection and continuation through the projects, that might be solved through the addition of a team member with a background in graphic design who can circulate between all the teams. After a little more discussion on the topic with Megan, Christen leaves her office promising to start looking for an addition for the team. 

Coming out of the meeting, she heads towards the bathrooms on the fifth floor with a slight urgency, as the large pressed juice she drank with her lunch had made it difficult to sit still through the last few minutes of her meeting. However focused her body may be on that task, her brain is elsewhere, already trying to figure out if it would be better to move someone from a different department or bring in someone brand new to work with Megan’s department, and if it’s an internal hire, who would be good for the job and how that transfer would work. She’s so wrapped up in her thoughts that she doesn’t notice that there’s someone else walking out of the bathroom at the same time she’s about to reach out and grab the door handle to enter.

It feels like deja vu as she apologizes and looks up to see the familiar wide-eyed stare from a brunette. After maybe a beat too long, Tobin ducks her head and steps around Christen, hurrying off to her desk and allowing Christen to actually enter the bathroom, slightly puzzled again by their interaction. 

Coming out of the bathroom, Christen chances a glance to the workstations as she heads towards the stairs. If it wasn’t for the distinctive tousled hair, she would have no idea she was looking at the same girl that she just ran into at the bathroom. Tobin’s demeanor has completely changed as she stands with Allie and attempts to balance a pen straight up on her forehead, the blonde laughing at her and trying to push her off balance so the pen falls to the ground. 

_So she is capable of having normal interactions with people…_

***

“I don’t know Kling, it was so weird. I go from not even knowing that this girl existed to _literally_ running into her twice today. And what the fuck was the weird staring about?”

Christen is sitting across from her best friend at the retro-vintage dining room table at Kling’s apartment, stuffing her face with the Veggie Heaven take out she picked up on her way home from yoga. After complimenting the Media department’s presentations (_yes, again_), she had found herself recounting the odd experiences with Tobin. 

“Chris it honestly sounds like something that would happen if she had a crush on you.”

“We literally met today. I don’t see how that would be possible if she doesn’t even know me yet.”

“Well let’s just say I’m right and she does have a crush on you. What would that mean for you?”

“Literally nothing. I have no idea why that’s even relevant to this conversation.”

“Okay what ever you say Chris.” Kling gets up from the table to throw away her take out container. “So how about we finish up that season of Stranger Things?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me and my bestie on @wo_so_obsessed on Insta. You know the drill, blame her if there are any editing mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you like it and you keep coming back as I update! I have some fun stuff planned for the rest of this fic!
> 
> If you want to get in contact with me, my best friend and I (who was the official editor of this work, if there are errors blame her lol) run an insta fan account and you can follow us there @wo_so_obsessed


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